Director Bilal Lashari made the announcement on Instagram with a post celebrating the team and the continued success of the 2022 film. The Jackie Chan Action Film Week, now an award show and celebration of its own, was originally part of Shanghai International Film Festival, started by Chan in 2015. The fifth edition was held in 2019. In 2021, the sixth edition celebrated the top 10 classic Chinese action films.

“Two awards, in the pouring rain, on a stage with Jackie Chan’s name on it. Still can’t quite believe this one,” he wrote.

“The Legend of Maula Jatt took home two honours at the closing ceremony of the 7th Jackie Chan International Action Film Week in Harbin, one of Asia’s biggest celebrations of action cinema. The Special Jury Award, and Best Art Direction,” he said, calling seeing his film alongside big names such as Mortal Kombat 2 and The Furious “wild”.

“An open air stage in Harbin, thousands in the crowd, and rain coming down through all of it. It had been on and off all evening, then my turn to go up, and of course that’s just when the sky really opened up. Soaked by the time I reached the mic, a stranger holding an umbrella overhead, trophy dripping, the whole arena lit up behind the rain. As a director you dream of building moments like that on set. This one just happened,” Lashari wrote in his caption.

He said the Art Direction award was special to him because it wasn’t his — it belonged instead to Namsa Abbasi and Hamza Bajwa. “What these two built wasn’t just sets and design, it was an entire world, and every scene of the film breathes because of them. Accepting it on their behalf, in the rain, on that stage… I wish they’d been there. This is yours. Fully deserved.”

He also gave a shoutout to producer Ammara Hikmat, who wasn’t in Harbin to receive the award either. “We felt your absence up there.”

The Jackie Chan International Action Film Week is named after the Chinese action star who inspired millions of starry-eyed children to get into action. One of those children was Lashari, who said he grew up on Chan’s films. “So to be on a stage with his name on it, representing Pakistan, and then to shake his hand and have him congratulate us in person, I never pictured any of this when we started,” he said.

“There’s really nothing that pulls people from every corner of the world together like a good action film. No subtitles needed, you just feel it. Thank you to Mr Jackie Chan, the organisers, and the jury for putting action, and the people who make it, on a stage as magnificent as this.”

He also thanked producer Nadeem Mandviwalla and his wife, calling them his “partners in crime through all these China adventures”.

“To our entire team, thank you. Every bit of this is yours. And to Pakistan, this one’s for you.”

While the celebration of Maula Jatt in China may seem rather delayed, the film only released in the country this past May. Lashari penned a note on Instagram after the Beijing premiere of the film, lauding the warmth they received from the press, the industry and the people in the room, something he “genuinely wasn’t prepared for”.

The love for the film in Pakistan is overwhelming, he mused, but different. “It’s wrapped up in everything else. The stars, the story, the years of waiting. Sometimes, as the director, you almost disappear inside all of that. Which is beautiful. But it’s a different feeling.”

In Beijing, none of that context existed, Lashari said. “They didn’t know our actors. They didn’t know our industry. They came in with nothing. And what came back was something pure. Just two of us who travelled a long way to share it, a director and a distributor, received like we’d brought something that mattered.”

That love and warmth reminded him of something he’d started to take for granted. “No platform, no algorithm, no TikTok can do what a cinema does. A darkened room, strangers sitting together, a story unfolding. Last night reminded me why cinema is cinema.”

The film stars Fawad and Mahira, Humaima Malick, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Gohar Rasheed, Faris Shafi and Ali Azmat, and is a reboot of the 1979 cult classic Maula Jatt, reimagining Punjab’s own superhero for a world audience.

The movie made Rs1 billion at the domestic box office and $10 million at the worldwide box office, as of January 2023, making it one of, if not the highest performing Pakistani films ever.

While they did not mention any country by name, Israel, which has been at war in Gaza since 2023, came close to winning the competition in both 2025 and 2026, ultimately finishing second on each occasion.

Under the old rules, the winning country normally hosts the following year’s competition.

Under the new rules, “the winning broadcaster will automatically be ineligible to host the contest if an armed conflict, a sensitive geopolitical situation, or any other situation materially affects the security, safety or stability of their state or immediate region”, they said in a statement.

In a first, five countries — Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland — boycotted the 2026 competition in Vienna over Israel’s participation.

They said they could not take part alongside Israel because of its war on Gaza.

Martin Green, director of the Eurovision Song Contest, said in a statement that the changes had been guided by feedback from member countries.

He added: “These changes are about giving everyone involved greater clarity, protecting artists and ensuring the contest continues to provide a safe and welcoming environment, while preserving the spirit and integrity that make the Eurovision Song Contest so special.”

Minimum age requirement

The organisers also announced that competitors must be at at least 18, up from 16, on the day of their first rehearsal.

“This change continues the work already undertaken by the contest to strengthen safeguarding and protect younger artists from the pressures associated with competing at the Eurovision Song Contest,” they added in the statement.

The youngest person to win the contest was 13-year-old Sandra Kim from Belgium in 1986, according to Eurovision records.

Eurovision is a co-production of public broadcasters belonging to the European Broadcasting Union. Since the EBU includes members from outside Europe, the contest is not limited to European countries.

The EBU said it could commission an independent security assessment before deciding whether a winning country is capable of hosting the event safely.

If a winning country is found unable to host the contest, the EBU will appoint another host nation.

Under the new rules, that country will organise the concert “in its own right” and “will not be required to stage the event on behalf of another member”.

Ukraine hosted Eurovision in 2017 despite the conflict in the country’s east between Ukrainian forces and Moscow-backed separatists.

But after Ukraine won the contest in 2022, it was unable to host the following year’s edition because of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Eurovision 2023 was instead held in Liverpool in Britain on Ukraine’s behalf.

Zahabia Khozema’s ‘A Memory Catcher Visited My Town’ is built around this fragile space between remembering and forgetting. Inspired by the recollections of a boy who grew up in an industrial town in central Punjab, this exhibition at Vasl Gallery becomes less a record of a disappearing place and more a meditation on belonging, loss and the landscapes we carry within us.

The artist’s statement introduces a stone-crusher, a goat-grazer and a coal-miner awaiting the arrival of a “memory catcher.” It unfolds almost like folklore, yet beneath its poetic language lies a sobering reality. The town gradually disappears under the pressures of capitalist expansion, economic violence and climate change. Rather than documenting this transformation literally, Khozema explores what remains when homes, communities and identities begin to dissolve.

This sense of abandonment is particularly evident in How Many Times Did You Pass by This House?, where an empty dwelling stands as more than an architectural form. Stripped of human presence, it suggests that buildings, much like people, retain the memories of those who once inhabited them.

Through luminous colours and dreamlike settings, Zahabia Khozema explores how memory preserves places long after they have disappeared from the physical world

Similarly, Let Us Meet Here Again, with its solitary chair placed within an expansive landscape, transforms an ordinary object into a poignant symbol of absence. The chair inspires conversations that never took place, people who never returned and places that continue to wait long after they have been forgotten.

The paintings rarely feel tied to a specific geography. Rivers, abandoned houses, flowering trees and open landscapes drift between dream and recollection, occupying a liminal territory where certainty gives way to sensation. Rather than reconstructing a town with documentary precision, Khozema paints the emotional architecture of remembrance. The viewer is left navigating spaces that feel familiar without ever being fully identifiable, as though assembled from scattered fragments of childhood.

Perhaps the exhibition’s most compelling quality is its use of colour. A body of work addressing displacement, environmental decline and erasure might be expected to rely on subdued tones, yet Khozema embraces intensely saturated blues, luminous pinks, violets and fiery oranges. In When the Mountains Called for Us, broad, expressive passages of warm colour, interrupted by seemingly unfinished forms and abrupt gestures, lend the work an almost dreamlike quality.

The looseness of the composition depicts the fragmented way memory often survives. Likewise, What Was Behind This is dominated by glowing reds and magentas, interrupted only by delicate passages of cool blue, suggesting that warmth and melancholy can exist within the same remembered moment.

Materiality further strengthens this atmosphere. Working with oil pastel and oil sticks, Khozema builds dense, tactile surfaces that reward prolonged looking. Thick deposits of pigment, energetic scribbles and layered marks prevent the paintings from becoming overly polished.

While deeply personal, the exhibition also gestures towards wider political realities. The vanished town is not presented as the inevitable consequence of time but as the result of systems that value extraction over communities and development over continuity. Climate change further deepens this vulnerability, reminding us that landscapes and livelihoods often disappear together.

Although the exhibition draws upon themes of capitalist erasure, economic violence and environmental decline, these ideas remain understated within the paintings themselves. Rather than confronting the viewer directly, Khozema allows them to emerge gradually through atmosphere and memory, inviting viewers to feel their emotional weight before recognising their broader social implications.

‘A Memory Catcher Visited My Town’ ultimately becomes an act of resistance. By preserving the emotional geography of a place, Khozema suggests that remembering itself can become a way of resisting disappearance. The exhibition stays long after one leaves the gallery, not simply because it reminds of what has been lost, but because it asks what remains when an entire town survives only in the memories of those who once called it home.

‘A Memory Catcher Visited My Town’ was on display at Vasl Gallery in Karachi from July 28-August 7, 2026

Originally published in Dawn, EOS, August 9th, 2026

In a reel shared to his own Instagram account as well as the show’s, Maqsood reiterated his earlier point about how his goal for the programme was to make the kind of “healthy, wholesome” content in Urdu that would make the language “cool and relevant” for kids.

Actor Syra Yousuf, who stars in the show as Mimi, also appears in the reel.

The singer said there were some very interesting songs in this season, about things like exercise and vegetables to promote a healthier lifestyle. He also said there was a song about what different bones are called in Urdu.

Kindness and compassion towards animals are also themes discussed on the show.

Maqsood asked parents to watch the show with their kids, since he designed it with both groups in mind. “When I write, compose the songs, [I feel like] there’s no point if I am not having fun,” he said.

The singer said anyone who hadn’t seen the show yet should start from the first season. “There are around 50+ songs that will have you learning things and your kids will be learning to love Urdu.”

Pakkay Dost has been trying to make children appreciate Pakistan’s culture and languages throughout its three-season run, with past collaborations with ConnectHear and the Government of Sindh making the show available in Sindhi and sign language.

The show is available to watch for free on YouTube.

Listeners have expressed concerns about artist profiles that appear ​human but instead represent AI-generated personas, the ​media streaming platform said.

Spotify will display the ⁠badge on banners and About sections in artist ​profiles, as well as in Search and on ​track rows across playlists.

Starting Tuesday, artists can disclose that their profile represents an AI Persona through Spotify for Artists. Spotify ​will also review profiles whose public identity ​appears to represent photorealistic AI-generated imagery.

Artists whose profiles are flagged by Spotify’s review team will be notified ​and given ​an opportunity ⁠to self-disclose or appeal, it said.

Spotify said it will exclude ‌AI ⁠Personas from editorial and algorithmic recommendations by default unless users follow those artists. Listeners will also be able to see ​whether an artist transparently shared that they ​were ⁠an AI Persona or whether Spotify identified the profile through its own review.

Spotify added that the ⁠badge ​will be based on an ​artist’s public identity and not how the music was made.

Cover photo: Spotify

Heck, even Pakistan, the very pro-Palestine state, helped with a staggering Rs25 crores in the three-day debut. That’s more than most successful films’ business in their lifetime here. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), in comparison, made Rs20 crores in 10 days, and Rs34 crores in its entire run.

After The Odyssey’s Rs5.83 crores weekend debut — and its $922 million worldwide gross — at least according to the latest accounts — who says cinema is dead? Especially when the year ends with the pre-destined blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday, where Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth and Robert Downey Jr are presumably returning for one final bow. And of course, as we’ve known and now see from the post-credit scene, “Spider-Man will return” as a part of Avengers.

Few can argue that Spidey’s narrative dependencies are tightly webbed into the tapestry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). When you look past the hype of interconnectivity and marquee cameos, one needn’t even squint to see that Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies have one slowly developing angle and one absolute consistency: the personal growth of a teenager and his dependence on other heroes.

Spider-Man:Brand New Day delivers exhilarating action and heartfelt emotion but, despite its strengths, functions more as a bridge to Marvel’s next chapter than as a truly standalone Spider-Man story

In Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Peter Parker wants to grow up but learns that he must first be a local hero to make a difference. In Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), he struggles to live up to the memory of Tony Stark and looks for a new mentor to trust. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, he tries to fix his problems with a magic spell. In every movie, Peter is reliant on an Avenger — be it Stark, Doctor Strange, magical incantations or tech.

In Spider-Man: Brand New Day — the title is inspired by the titular comic book arc — there was an opportunity to web-up some of the baggage on a ledge for a rainy day.

At the end of No Way Home, Peter, with a fresh start on his freshly wiped identity, was set free from overbearing Stark-tech, fan-servicing and money-making crossovers by uniting all three Spider-Man actors in a grand finale. Liberated, he finally swings over New York like in the comic books, the way he was always meant to.

When Brand New Day opens, he is already New York’s friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler, helping the local police take down bad guys (Liza Colón-Zayas plays detective Jean DeWolff, and villains Tombstone, Boomerang and Tarantula get one or two shots each).

Most of this backstory is dumped in a montage of changing seasons, where we also see him regularly visiting his late Aunt May’s grave, and watching Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon) and Michelle Jones Watson — MJ (Zendaya) — via their social media feeds.

Peter also has headaches and pretty soon finds himself webbed up in the air. His body is evolving, but not in the way any comic book fan expects (no six-armed arachnid mutations here). However, his actions are aggressive.

Peter seeks Dr Bruce Banner’s (Mark Ruffalo) help to curb this new persona, while a new villain hacks into people’s consciousness, jumping from one body to the next, in search of a location called V-Max.

While not exactly shoehorned, Peter’s dual-personality arc has minor echoes of the Hulk’s own destructive, out-of-control inner demons. Thus, in a way, the Hulk’s long shadow falls squarely on a Spider-Man picture — in one action scene in the climax, quite literally. Other Marvel side-characters are Yelena Belova’s Black Widow (Florence Pugh) from the ‘New Avengers’ (last seen in Thunderbolts) and the Punisher (Jon Bernthal).

Bernthal’s Frank Castle, in an expanded and thoroughly compelling role, is the film’s moral counterweight. By the third act, you’re rooting for the Punisher as fervently as you’re rooting for Peter. That is either a great compliment to Bernthal, or a damning observation about the thinness of Spider-Man’s emotional arc.

Strip away the Avengers, the Banner tech, the Punisher’s gunfire, and what remains of Brand New Day’s story? Two beats in a two-and-a-half-hour movie!

The first is Peter’s gradual maturation — his acceptance of himself despite what his evolving genome has done, or tried to do to him. The second: mustering the courage to ask his friends to simply remember him and allowing himself, finally, not to carry the burden alone.

These are meaningful moments, sure — and a good anchor to the plot — but then, what is the plot itself and where are the villains?

Consider Tobey Maguire’s trilogy, or even Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Each had rich plots and tonnes of forward-driving conflict.

In Brand New Day, the known Spider-Man villains are the Scorpion (Michael Mando) and the ninja-assassin group the Hand, in a capacity so minor they both barely register as a footnote.

The real antagonist is — spoiler alert! — Jean Grey (Sadie Sink), an X-Men. A character whose presence, however effectively deployed, functions less as a narrative endpoint and more as a junction. It is a throughline that routes traffic towards Avengers: Doomsday and the incoming X-Men integration. The post-credits scene confirms what the story barely (if at all) disguises — that Holland’s fourth solo film as Spider-Man is a mere relay point without a destination.

None of this makes Brand New Day a bad film. Far from it. There is no question about the production values or the allure of Michael Giacchino’s theme and score. The web-slinging sequences are among the finest committed to a Marvel production. The emotions move you, particularly in the quieter moments, and Holland remains one of the most instinctively sympathetic actors working in the superhero genre.

However, cinema, at its core, is measured by what a film accomplishes. Brand New Day accomplishes the following: it tugs at your heartstrings in ways better than Homecoming and Far From Home, delivers action sequences worth the IMAX premium (at least, I hope it does — we don’t have the IMAX luxury in Pakistan), and deposits Spider-Man tidily into the Marvel machine’s next cycle.

What it does not accomplish is a solo Spider-Man story. Not in the way the name on the poster promises.

Released by Sony Pictures and HKC, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, is rated U and suitable for everyone.

That is why everyone is headed to the cinemas

Originally published in Dawn, ICON, August 9th, 2026

The $581 million Greenlink interconnector, linking the UK to Ireland in an effort to share excess renewable energy, was set to pass through the beachside memorial to the fandom’s favourite house elf, which was built on the site where his death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1 was filmed.

The site has since become one of pilgrimage; fans come from far and wide to leave stones carrying messages to honour the elf’s sacrifice — they used to leave socks as well, but environmental authorities have since asked them not to.

Project manager Simon Ludlam, who had appeared in an interview with the BBC that led to the ensuing outrage from Harry Potter fans, said he and his team received “hundreds of calls”.

A befuddled Ludlam didn’t initially get what all the fuss was about. When a colleague explained what was going on, he said, “He’s a fictitious character in a fictitious book, the whole thing is fictitious, what are you talking about?”

The project manager was informed the matter was “very very serious”.

After discussions on “exactly how to reroute the cable so we wouldn’t go anywhere close to Dobby’s grave”, the project is now moving ahead, Ludlam said.

However, the new route comes “quite close” to a possible Bronze-age burial site, the manager said. The archaeological find, possibly containing human remains, was highlighted in planning documents from local authorities.

A report from the Pembrokeshire council said archaeological trenches dug near the route of the underground cable “contained the rim of an inverted pottery vessel whose fabric suggests a Bronze Age collared urn circa 1700-1500BC, typically associated with human burial”.

But locals have much to gain from the decision, as 20-year-old Jack Nicholas told CNN, “Dobby’s Grave brings tourists from all around the world down to one of Pembrokeshire’s most impressive beaches. The memorial has rocks from places such as Italy, Australia and South Africa, showing how far people travel to see Dobby’s Grave.

“Tourism is one of the most important industries in Pembrokeshire, and all of the visitors will contribute to the local businesses,” he said.

Tourism in Pembrokeshire contributes an estimated $815m to the local economy, with more than six million visitors supporting 23 per cent of all local employment, according to Pembrokeshire County Council.

Cover photo: Harry Potter/Warner Bros

Sakina Samo in Qarz-i-Jaan arches an imperious eyebrow while making regressive judgements.

A grey-haired Sania Saeed in Aap Ki Izzat compromises her ethics in order to maintain her stronghold over her errant son.

Hina Khawaja Bayat in Aik Aur Pakeezah puffs on a hookah while making caustic but wise observations. Arjumand Rahim in Sher struggles with spinsterhood and a past romance that has left her jaded. Savera Nadeem in Bismil confronts her philandering husband. A broken-hearted Nadia Afgan in Tann Mann Neelo Neel comes to terms with her husband’s years of reticence.

Tazeen Hussain in Qarz-i-Jaan plays the submissive daughter-in-law living a life of servitude ever since she was widowed. Marina Khan in Dr Bahu champions being a submissive daughter-in-law and lectures her newly married daughter to be one.

Once confined to predictable roles as saintly mothers or scheming mothers-in-law in television dramas, Pakistan’s veteran actresses are finally being given layered, emotionally complex characters, reflecting not only changing audience tastes but also the evolving realities of Pakistani women’s lives

Asma Abbas in Mann Jogi lies and manipulates in order to protect the reputation of her tempestuous son.

These are just a few examples of the recent roles played by relatively ‘older’ actresses in TV dramas, who have moved beyond being cookie-cutter characters in the background. They may be relegated to roles of mothers, mothers-in-law, grandmothers and aunts, but the very talented motley crew of Pakistan’s older generation of actresses is no longer simply there to propel the story of the drama’s younger leads and remain on the sidelines.

Interestingly, mature male actors have rarely faced the same creative limitations. Politicians, feudal lords, businessmen, judges and villains have long provided older men with substantial and layered roles.

Actors such as Humayun Saeed, Faisal Rehman, Faysal Quraishi and Adnan Siddiqui continue to headline dramas as romantic leads, frequently paired opposite actresses decades younger than themselves, despite being in their 50s. Their female contemporaries, however, have traditionally been expected to transition into mothers and mothers-in-law much earlier in their careers, often while the men continued to romance much younger heroines.

It is only recently that actresses of the same generation have begun receiving characters with comparable psychological depth.

More than just one-dimensional mothers

As a result, slowly but surely, an increasing number of dramas are giving these women journeys of their own, mapping out their lives in far greater detail than ever before.

Their baggage from the past — not to mention their regrets — is brought to the fore, as is the resilience that has shaped who they are and the impact they have on the lives of those around them.

If a woman is a nit-picking mother-in-law, there is a reason why she is the way she is. A subdued mother carries the weight of past traumas. A benign widow living on her own may have a murderous past. A mother will not always be a saint and a mother-in-law won’t always be the manipulative villain presiding over the breakfast table.

Age has ceased to be treated as a full stop in Pakistani dramas. And it’s about time, too! This change is particularly striking because, for decades, Pakistani dramas tended to divide women into two broad categories: the desirable young heroine and the self-sacrificing or villainous older woman. Once an actress crossed a certain age, she was almost usually then relegated to roles of a mother, mother-in-law or grandmother, even if she was in her 40s or 50s. At the same time, though, a large proportion of dramas still focus primarily on the younger actors.

Veteran actress Hina Khwaja Bayat observes, “It’s interesting that earlier, female actors still in their 30s would be cast in roles of women in their 50s. We would sometimes be playing mothers to actors who were just five to 10 years younger than us! Even now, the age issue remains, although roles have definitely become more interesting.

“For instance, I was lucky to play the character of Mummy Jee in Aik Aur Pakeezah, but she was a woman who was much older than me,” adds Bayat. “In Case Number 9, I played Saba Qamar’s mother. It was an interesting character that gave me a lot of margin to perform. As far as scripts are concerned, you do come across better, more fleshed-out characters for older age groups, although it is still fairly uncommon.”

Bayat also lauds actors for going the extra mile to flesh out banal roles. “I have also recently seen dramas where actresses have made the effort to add nuances to what would otherwise be regular mother and grandmother roles. You have to give credit to them for often adding meat to roles that would otherwise be forgettable.”

Similarly, Nadia Afgan says, “Earlier, we would mostly get offered stereotypical saas, nand [mother-in-law, sister-in-law] roles, but now there is real depth to a lot of the older characters.”

She provides concrete examples: “My roles in Aik Aur Pakeezah, Sharpasand and now, in Dar-i-Nijaat as Shadda Gujjri, all have layers, strengths and their own story arcs. There are some really impactful characters that we have been seeing in current dramas, such as Dr Farheen played by Saba Hameed in the recently concluded Dr Bahu and Sania Saeed in Aap Ki Izzat. Powerful, well-written characters!”

Arjumand Rahim shares her own insights. “In the 8pm prime time slot, better-etched characters are definitely being written for older women,” she says. “In my experience, Taj Bibi in Sher was quite pivotal to the main storyline, and even Nafisa in Meri Zindagi Hai Tu had a backstory, which had a direct impact on the personality and behaviour of the protagonist played by Bilal Abbas Khan. There are so many other examples: Saba Hameed in Noor Jahan and Dr Bahu, Saima Noor in Main Manto Nahin Hoon, and so on.”

She points out, “It’s sad, though, that we are not seeing the same kind of attention being given to character arcs in the 7pm and 9pm slots in longer serials. There, the formula continues to be simplistic and predictable, with black-and-white, wishy-washy stereotypical characters. I would put it down to lazy writing.”

Why now?

What has brought about this much-needed shift, though?

One very obvious reason is that the audience is evolving, constantly exposed to global content via cinemas and streaming platforms, and is more inclined to watch a well-written, nuanced story rather than a cartoonish, slipshod domestic drama.

Increasingly, dramas with storylines that centre on ensemble casts are airing in primetime slots and becoming huge successes. A romantic couple may be pivotal to the plot, but equal importance will also be given to the character arcs of other generations in the storyline.

The audience has responded enth­us­iastically. Time and again, one sees clips going ‘viral’ on social media, not of the beautiful lead actress, but of the grandmother making a wise remark, a mother putting her errant husband in place, or an aunt delivering a well-timed one-liner! This demonstrates that compelling writing and well-etched-out characters — not just youth — capture viewers’ attention.

And let’s not forget that the present-day Pakistani woman has also changed. There are women in their 50s who work, travel alone and have aspects to their personalities that extend well beyond the confines of the kitchen and their in-laws.

Now, more and more stories — at least the good ones — are addressing these changing dynamics.

The importance of experience

The industry’s demographics too have also evolved. A generation of actresses who entered television during the 1980s and 1990s has accumulated decades of experience and developed devoted fan followings.

Writers now have a wealth of accomplished performers capable of carrying emotionally demanding storylines, making it increasingly difficult to justify reducing them to decorative or one-dimensional roles.

Of course, there is also the fact that Pakistan’s TV drama fraternity boasts a heavy-duty line-up of immensely talented actors and actresses who may be well over 40, but have the magnetism and talent to keep the audience hooked. Such powerhouses add value to a drama and it is the producers’ loss if they let such talent go to waste with unidimensional cardboard roles.

Veteran actress Atiqa Odho elaborates on how storylines are changing. “Unlike in the recent past, current storylines are now giving all actors a margin to perform, as every character tends to have an important part to play,” she says.

“Some very interesting scripts come my way, with multiple choices offered to me, and over the past decade I have performed all sorts of characters in title roles, as well as major supporting roles. Once you grow out of lead roles, more mature and challenging roles are now being offered to experienced artists.”

The shift has also benefitted the dramas themselves. Strong ensemble casts, where every generation has a meaningful role to play, create richer narratives and greater emotional stakes. Rather than relying solely on the chemistry between the lead couple, viewers become invested in an entire family and the plot twists that shape its members.

In a similar vein, Nadia Afgan says, “It’s not just about being the mother or the elder anymore. The new dramas that are coming out are also being written by a promising crop of writers who come up with roles that have substance. This makes me very hopeful about where TV dramas are headed.”

Perhaps the biggest change is that today’s older women of TV dramas are, to a certain extent, no longer simply ‘good’ or ‘evil’. The domineering mother-in-law is allowed moments of vulnerability. The seemingly saintly mother can be selfish or manipulative. Even the antagonist is often driven by loneliness, grief, insecurity or regret rather than cartoonish malice. It makes for far more engaging television because audiences understand the character, even when they don’t agree with her.

Progress, but we’re not quite there yet

Having said this, the desi TV drama still has a long way to go in terms of stories with older female characters playing meaty roles.

Veteran actress Bushra Ansari points out that, while one interesting drama might surface now and then — she, too, gives the example of Saba Hameed’s recent work — most roles are monotonous and don’t excite her anymore.

“An elderly woman in a Pakistani drama is usually crooked,” she says. “She is commanding and mean, and if it’s a supposedly ‘different’ role, this means that she’s probably being battered emotionally by the people around her.

“Most stories revolve around the young people in a drama. This is not something bad. We have some very good young actors and the audience is eager to see them, but the more mature actresses should also be offered better roles. If you work in 10 dramas, maybe one of them will end up being more interesting, but that’s about it.”

This is a valid point. While the occasional well-written script may feature a matriarch with shades and emotional arcs, dramas are yet to veer towards stories that venture off the beaten path, moving beyond the domestic landscape to perhaps the workplace. There are barely any stories revolving around female politicians or businesswomen, or long-lasting female friendships or finding love once again after hitting the big 5-0.

They do, for the most part, remain mothers, mothers-in-law and grandmothers first, individuals second. Their conflicts revolve around marriage, inheritance or family honour, while careers, friendships, politics, entrepreneurship and personal reinvention remain largely unexplored.

The encouraging news is that the audience has already demonstrated an appetite for richer storytelling. Whenever an older female character is written with intelligence, humour and emotional complexity, viewers embrace her wholeheartedly (Baby Baji, anyone?). The challenge now is for writers and producers to trust these characters enough to place them at the centre of the narrative rather than at its edges.

Let’s not lose hope, though. Pakistani drama writers and producers have awakened to the potential of nuanced roles for older actresses. Perhaps, soon, they will also move away from the domestic comfort zone towards more experimental storytelling.

Originally published in Dawn, ICON, August 9th, 2026

The proceedings, expected to last a month, will likely not make clear who fired the shots that killed the California hip-hop legend on the night of September 7, 1996, while he was in Las Vegas to see a Mike Tyson boxing match.

But prosecutors aim to show that the defendant, Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips, ordered the killing and provided the gun used to kill Shakur in a drive-by shooting.

The trial began Monday with jury selection, a process expected to last through the week.

Davis, 63, appeared in court wearing a light-blue shirt and blue tie. He faces life in prison without parole if convicted.

The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, is one of America’s most celebrated cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it and why.

The rapper, who died at age 25, was a key figure in a hip-hop rivalry pitting the East Coast against the West Coast.

Known for hits like ‘California Love’ and ‘All Eyez on Me,’ Shakur — the son of a Black Panther — was raised in Harlem and Baltimore, but quickly became the epitome of a California bad boy when he signed with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.

The trial will revisit the battle between Death Row, founded by Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, and Bad Boy Records, the East Coast label created by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and starring Christopher ‘The Notorious B.I.G.’ Wallace (murdered in March 1997).

Prosecutors say Death Row Records was protected by Mob Piru, a Los Angeles gang that was part of the wider Bloods alliance. Knight was affiliated with the group.

Bad Boy Records had hired the rival group South Side Compton Crips, led by Davis, as bodyguards.

After the Tyson fight at the MGM Grand casino, Knight and Shakur beat up Davis’s nephew, Crips member Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson, in retribution over an alleged assault of a Death Row employee.

Davis was out for revenge, the prosecution says.

Later that night, a white Cadillac carrying Davis, Anderson and others pulled up beside Shakur’s car in Las Vegas. Shots were fired from the Cadillac, and Shakur was fatally wounded.

Compromising memoirs

The investigation sputtered for decades because of a lack of evidence, but the cold case was revived with the publication in 2019 of Davis’s memoirs.

In that book, Davis recounted that he was in the front seat of the Cadillac and that he handed a pistol to those in the back seat. But he does not say who opened fire on Shakur. Everyone else who was in the Cadillac that night has since died.

These compromising revelations were consistent with remarks Davis had made previously to reporters. But this time, they came back to haunt him and he was arrested in September 2023.

Davis has since backtracked and pleaded not guilty.

“I’m innocent. I ain’t killed nobody. Never did ever kill nobody,” Davis said in March 2025 in an interview from prison with ABC News. “They don’t have no evidence against me. They can’t even put me in Las Vegas.” Davis now says he was in Los Angeles the night of the Shakur killing and that he has never even read his own memoirs. He asserted that these were inflated by his co-author to generate book sales.

“I just gave him details of my life,” Davis said. “And he went and did his little investigation and wrote the book on his own.” In the run-up to the trial, Davis’s lawyers tried in vain to keep the book from being introduced as evidence, along with remarks he made in an interview with police in 2008 as a witness to the killing.

Whatever the verdict is, it is unlikely to satisfy those close to Shakur.

In May, the rapper’s stepbrother Maurice Shakur filed a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court.

“There remain individuals who were involved in Tupac’s murder who, for 30 years, have not been held accountable for their crimes,” his complaint says.

The suit cites a recent TV documentary mini-series entitled Sean Combs: The Reckoning, in which Davis says in an interview with police that Combs, now in prison himself, offered him $1 million to kill Shakur.

Cover photo: Tupac Shakur/Instagram

Now, Sanam Saeed has stepped up to be Saleem’s knight in shining armour and defend her colleague from the wrath of trolls. In an Instagram story on Monday, she called the situation “unsettling”.

Saeed said it was “very lame to see everyone so obsessed over an actor’s accent” and called it “downright mean and inconsiderate of someone’s feelings” for people to be bashing Saleem the way they are.

For context, Saleem plays Zaryab, the carefree younger daughter of a well-to-do family, in Dar-e-Nijaat. Her character, who has been educated in elite schools and is now considering going to the US for her education, is shown primarily speaking in English with her sister, her friends and her boyfriend Zamil (Nameer Khan).

What fans found strange in Saleem’s portrayal was her accent, which many said didn’t fit the character she was portraying.

Actors are known for their craft and the craft lies in portraying character well enough for them to be believable. Patrons of any art form are known to express their opinion when they don’t like something and it seems the patrons of Pakistani dramas have a lot to say about Saleem’s accent.

While we understand that fans would like every aspect of the drama to be believable, there is such a thing as taking criticism too far, and that’s what Saeed is talking about.

In a story posted on her Instagram account on Sunday, she said things were so bad “not because we are seeing rape and murder everywhere; but because there is no example being made out of something done so often and easily”.

She said it does look easy to commit these horrific crimes because they’re “happening all the time”. So much so, that the issue was no longer even gendered.

The actor asked how someone was to save their children in such times, questioning whether it would be okay to take the law into one’s own hands. The law, she said, “does seem to behave like a sixth grader”.

“Let’s dig the grave again because the first time we didn’t get it right,” wrote the actor, possibly referring to the recent exhumation of the body of young business owner, Mir Raza Ali. His body was autopsied for a second time after a court order.

While investigators initially focused on the possibility of his death being a suicide, the second autopsy confirmed he had been shot in the back and subjected to torture.

Abbas also talked about the suggestion that the suspect in a recent rape and murder of a child in Karachi should receive counselling and support for his mental health because he was 17 years old and not an adult.

“But then what do I do?” she asked. “How do I protect my children?”

The actor is the latest of many celebrities reacting to two horrific tragedies that have shaken Karachi in the last few days. Ali, who had gone missing on July 28, was found dead two days later in the city’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area.

The case gained even more attention when reports of a flawed autopsy were used by the victim’s family to request a second post-mortem examination.

On Tuesday, a young girl died after being raped in Qayyumabad. Her parents registered a case with the police after which the primary suspect — a teenage relative of the girl who had taken her out to buy something before bringing her back unconscious — was arrested on Wednesday.

Appearing on the podcast The Street Talks Back on Friday, Afgan said Pakistanis were okay with killing dogs en masse and taught their children to fear the animals based on “colonial” ideas.

“We are taught to love things that are good and pretty. For dogs, we are told they are filthy, that they bite, we are taught to fear them from when we are children.”

Host Huma Haq — who founded the Jaandar Animal Welfare Organisation — said the way dogs walk on the streets of Pakistan as opposed to somewhere like Turkiye showed how cruelly society treats the voiceless animals. Afgan said these weren’t the same streets she grew up on.

“I don’t think the streets are safe for children, I don’t think they’re safe for animals, for dogs, for women, anyone really. Maybe they’re safe for men? And even then, maybe they’re not safe for a lot of men as well.”

She said she had a house and the area inside the walls of the house was hers. She could decide who to let in and who to keep out. But the street outside her house wasn’t hers in the same way — it belonged more to the animals that lived on it.

“They lived here long before we did, we built our cities [on their land]. Dogs, we brought them here, domesticated them and then left them. We are the ones who bring dogs home and then abandon them. Where will they go?”

The actor said she had been asked by people in her neighbourhood not to walk her dogs — a Labrador retriever and a husky — outside for fear that they might hurt kids. She said she responded by telling the neighbourhood that the dogs don’t hurt children — or anyone — and she has made it a point to introduce her dogs to kids whenever they’re out.

Afgan said trying to “fix the problem of rabies, which doesn’t affect every dog, maybe one in every 100” by culling them was teaching children that “violence is the answer to everything”.

The actor said those in power had misplaced priorities when it came to animal welfare, where they were willing to pay for poison and bullets to kill dogs, but refused to sponsor programmes to control the spread of rabies with vaccinations.

Instead, she said, the streets would be safer if we took care of stray dogs.

“Dogs, have territories, they protect their territories and they protect your children. The man on a bike who touches your kids while they’re playing in the streets… the one who kidnaps young boys; you feed these stray dogs, give them water and see how anyone dares to approach your kids.”

Talking about her own childhood, Afgan said she had a dog growing up in the 80s and her mother was fond of rescuing animals. That, she said, was a generational trait, because her grandmother also had a lot of animals at her house.

She also dismissed the notion that loving animals was a luxury only the well-off could afford. She said her mother’s family in Quetta was not rich, but her grandmother had love in her heart for all sorts of animals.

“My mother grew up with nine siblings and a lot of animals. Ducks, chickens, cows, buffaloes, goats and dogs and cats and birds. She grew up loving animals, which she passed on to us.”

The White House and a representative for Swift did not immediately respond to requests for ‌comment.

Swift has not spoken recently about Trump, although she endorsed his Democratic rival, then-vice president Kamala Harris, in 2024. During the 2020 campaign, Swift posted on social media that Trump was “WELL AWARE we do not want him as our president.”

Trump has repeatedly criticised ​Swift. After she endorsed Harris, the Republican said on social media, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” Last year he ​wrote: “Has anyone noticed that, since I said ‘I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,’ she’s no longer “HOT?”

Dozens of ⁠artists, including Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande, have called on the Trump administration not to use their songs.

The Trump campaign ​used two Swift songs over the last week on its TikTok page. One, playing on her lyrics, featured the caption: “Red (Donald ​Trump’s Version). Red (Taylor Swift Wrote A Whole Album About Republicans). Donald Trump. Everything Has Changed (At Our Southern Border). Donald Trump. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (The Biden Harris Administration). Donald Trump. The Last Time (An Autopen Runs The Country).” It referenced famous songs ​by the pop star.

In June, Trump’s campaign posted a video on the short-video platform with Swift’s new Toy Story ​5 song ‘I Knew It, I Knew You’. The short video was captioned “Nobody loves our country & the American People more than @President Donald ‌J Trump.” ⁠It showed him interacting with children at the White House, dancing at a UFC match and appearing at a rally.

It was the third time the Trump administration or his campaign had used one of the Grammy Award-winning pop star’s songs in recent months.

In April, the White House shared a video showing the crew of Artemis II ​meeting with Trump at the ​White House the day ⁠before. The video used Swift’s ‘High Infidelity’ and lyrics from the song: “Do you really want to know where I was April 29th?”

The White House shared another TikTok video in ​November featuring ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ from Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl album, which had ​been released ⁠the month before. That video featured images of the US flag, monuments and various photos of Trump, including his 2023 arrest mugshot.

That post garnered widespread social media reaction and led to a White House spokesperson telling multiple news outlets the video ⁠was ​created because the Trump administration knew news outlets “would breathlessly amplify them”.

The communications ​team for Trump, who is prolific on social media, has posted an array of hit songs with images including Trump’s immigration crackdown, US military operations ​against Iran and the arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The film released on July 17 and has generated $429.65 million in the US and $578.8m internationally for a grand total just over $1bn. It is Nolan’s first film to cross the coveted threshold since 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises made a total of $1.08bn during its theatrical run.

Imax screens — for which the movie was shot — contributed $257m to the movie’s sales figures, and The Odyssey is expected to become the highest grossing film ever on Imax screens.

With the film still in cinemas, The Odyssey is also expected to surpass The Dark Knight Rises to become the director’s highest grossing film. His last film, Oppenheimer, managed $975m in ticket sales.

This comes as The Odyssey is set to open in China — the world’s largest moviegoing market — on Friday, likely giving its numbers a massive boost. The film will play across nearly 800 Imax screens in the country and thousands of standard cinemas.

The Odyssey is the fifth movie this year to cross the $1bn mark after Spider-Man: Brand New Day ($1.18 billion and counting), Toy Story 5 ($1.067 billion), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($1.001 billion) and Michael ($1.001 billion) — which beat Oppenheimer to become the highest-grossing biopic of all time.

This marks a milestone in the revival of cinema after the Covid-19 pandemic, with 2026 having the most billion-dollar films of any year after the pandemic. The all-time record year for high-rolling movies was in 2019, when nine movies made over a billion dollars in sales.

In a story posted on his Instagram account, the actor turned reality TV game-master said social media was rife with rumours about who was going to be on the show and who wasn’t.

“For weeks, YouTubers, bloggers, podcasters and a few self-proclaimed Tamasha intelligence agencies have confidently announced who’s in the show and who’s not,” the actor said. He quipped that some of them appeared to know before the team did.

“Well, the guessing game ends tonight,” he said.

In the accompanying video, Siddiqui said he was heading to the studio where they were preparing to launch the show’s latest season. He said the show’s new set would be revealed to the press and participants would begin their time on the show the next day.

Earlier on Thursday, the host posted a picture from the updated set with past winners Umer Aalam (season one), Aruba Mirza (season two), Aqeel Yousaf (season three) and Saif Ali Khan (season four). Also seated was ARY Digital CEO Jerjees Seja.

For those not in the know, Tamasha is a Pakistani spin on a popular reality TV format first introduced on Dutch TV with the show Big Brother.

A set of contestants live together in a house without contact with the outside world and compete for votes to stay on the show. The contestants also complete challenges to get luxuries and immunity from elimination.

The last contestant remaining on the show wins a cash prize. Last season’s champ walked away with almost two and a half million in winnings after the finale.

“We are very sorry to share that Sophia will be temporarily unable to participate in upcoming promotional activities,” the statement from the South Korean and American music companies said.

“Sophia has been receiving the utmost support, and following thorough consultations with medical professionals, it has been advised that she take dedicated time for extended rest and ongoing care to ensure a full recovery,” the statement added.

The companies added that despite the setback, Sophia remains eager to return to performing alongside fellow members Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel and Yoonchae Jeung.

They said her condition will be reassessed in September and updates will be shared with fans then. Hybe did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Laforteza also posted a story on her personal Instagram page saying that this decision breaks her heart.

“You know how much I love being on stage, performing, and sharing these moments with you,” she added. She noted that taking care of her mind and body now will enable her to keep doing what she loves.

Laforteza thanked fans and asked that they continue to support KATSEYE despite her absence.

The announcement comes days before the worldwide premiere of the group’s first documentary, KATSEYE: WILD HEARTS, on Wednesday and the release of its third EP, WILD, on August 14.

Laforteza is the second KATSEYE member to take a temporary hiatus for mental health and wellness reasons. Manon Bannerman’s hiatus was announced on Weverse on February 20.

While fans have speculated about the reasons for Bannerman’s absence, Hybe, Geffen and KATSEYE’s members have not provided additional details.

KATSEYE is a Los Angeles-based multinational pop group known for combining K-pop’s training model with Western pop influences.

The group, whose members come from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland and the US, was formed in 2023 after the finalists of Hybe and Geffen’s survival-style competition The Debut: Dream Academy were selected to debut together.

KATSEYE gained widespread attention with singles including ‘Touch’, ‘Gnarly’ and ‘Gabriela’, the latter earning a Grammy nomination.

The name KATSEYE is derived from the chrysoberyl gemstone known as cat’s eye, a reference to the group’s diverse talents and evolving artistry.

Appearing on Thursday’s episode of Good Morning Pakistan, where she said pregnancy blues and postpartum depression were “so real” and needed to be properly addressed by those around the mother-to-be.

One of the guests on the show, Airaas, who got married at 17 and had three kids “without much of a gap” said it was hard for young women to adjust in a new home because every bit of criticism hits harder when they aren’t mature enough to handle it.

She said this was especially true when women are pregnant. “Because at that point, even the tiniest thing someone says sounds very harsh to you, regardless of whether it was that harsh or not.”

She said wisdom comes with age and without it such words can be traumatic, even if they were never intended to be.

Ashraf responded to this by saying society still needed to learn a thing or two about pregnancy instead of teaching the same outdated lessons to the next generation of mothers.

“Earlier, there was no concept of [pregnancy blues and postpartum depression], people would just say, ‘So what? We had children too.’”

The actor said we didn’t know what past generations had to endure and how they were treated by their loved ones during pregnancy, but nowadays people need to understand that when a woman is pregnant, she feels that her entire life is changing.

“It’s a happy feeling, sure, but it’s an anxiety also.”

At this crucial stage, Ashraf said, a girl who feels she has to face these challenges alone can go into a “really bad state of depression”.

“Here, I feel the people around you, your in-laws and especially your husband, they should have more compassion,” the actor said.

She also clarified that this wasn’t limited to just pregnancy, because raising a child was a unique challenge too, especially for a first-time mother.

Host Nida Yasir said handling a child was no easy task, even for someone with experience, to which Ashraf agreed that it wasn’t and said nobody was telling new mothers that it’s okay not to be able to do all of it instinctively.

Yasir quipped that it was important for young women to get degrees and start their careers before getting married because it makes them “rough, tough” and better prepares them for the pressures of life ahead.

Ashraf is not the first Pakistan celebrity to talk about how pregnancy and childbirth can affect a woman’s mental health, Naimal Khawar, Sarwat Gilani and Zara Noor Abbas have all spoken openly about their own struggles with postpartum depression.

Each described the mental and physical toll, something partners and families can — and absolutely should — help new mothers with.

The South Asia Speaks (SAS) literary fellowship, which was previously restricted to applicants resident in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, has now opened its doors to young South Asian voices around the world. Afghan applicants were permitted to apply even if they weren’t living in Afghanistan.

SAS pairs a handful of promising young writers and poets with seasoned literary professionals and journalists to develop a book-length project. Successful applicants are provided one-on-one sessions with an assigned mentor, as well as a range of craft workshops and masterclasses to hone their skills.

Masterclasses and workshops have been conducted by Shamsie, Pankaj Mishra, Vauhini Vara and Taymour Soomro for past cohorts.

Applications for the 2026 cohort will open September 1 and run till Sep 30.

SAS has paired over 100 fellows with mentors over the last five years. Their fellows have gone on to publish books with prestigious publishing houses such as Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. The 2025 cohort had eight fellows, one from Pakistan, six from India and one from India-occupied Kashmir.

While the fellowship initially catered to fiction and non-fiction writers, last year saw the introduction of an oral history mentorship programme, helmed by seasoned oral historian Aanchal Malhotra.

Malhotra has won awards for her writings on the lived experiences of Partition and is a co-founder of the Museum of Material Memory — a digital repository tracing family histories and social ethnography through heirlooms, collectables and antiques.

The SAS fellowship was founded by Sonia Faleiro, who continues to serve as programme director. She is joined on the board by Fatima Bhutto, Isaac Chotiner and Julia Churchill.

In an Instagram reel posted on Thursday, the singer said this was necessary after seeing so many people make beautiful covers of his song.

He asked fans to tag their favourite cover artist in the comments and said one winner would get to work with him on the song.

In a story on his account, Azhar explained this was real and “not a drill”. He said seeing so many amazing musicians cover his song made his “heart smile”.

“Go tag yourself or your favourite artist who has covered ‘Khabbay Sajjay’ on my latest reel and the best one will get to be on the official unplugged version which we’ll release officially,” the singer said.

Azhar hinted that he might also make a video of the unplugged version with the winning artist.

The song — one of 10 on the Asim Ali album — is a romantic number with Azhar singing praises of his lover who is “so beautiful that my heart moves khabbay sajjay (left and right).”

The song’s description on YouTube — where it has amassed over a million views — says it is “an aching declaration of devotion — love that persists even when distance, fear, and time stretch it thin”.

In an Instagram reel shared on Thursday, Hashmi walked into the assembly building with Alam giving her a tour and showing her the many artworks, dioramas and artefacts on display.

The actor also visited the assembly floor, meeting staffers there and in her host’s office, where the three-time MNA presented her with a token of appreciation and spoke highly of her work representing female legislators in the media.

Alam said she was “proud” of Hashmi for bringing the lives of female parliamentarians and politicians to the screen and thanked her for her work, which she said she found to be “commendable”.

In the post’s caption, the actor said visiting parliament gave her a deeper understanding of the role she played in Leader. “Politics, what just looks like a privilege is more than that — it’s a responsibility, a duty and an all-time commitment,” she wrote.

Hashmi also sat down with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar during her visit. She said they had a “productive discussion on critical issues, particularly those affecting women in media in our country”.

Earlier in July, Alam and Balochistan MNA Jamal Raisani praised the actor’s performance in Leader, with Alam saying Hashmi owned the role and calling her acting “absolutely phenomenal”.

The actor thanked both lawmakers for their kind words.

Hashmi’s onscreen persona in Leader, Rubab, is the daughter of a shrewd politician with a feudal background. In later episodes, she takes the reins of her father’s political empire, coming into her own as an iron-willed party leader.

In a long, emotional note shared on Instagram on Wednesday, Asad thanked “everyone who watched, supported, debated, agreed, disagreed, and felt something throughout this journey”.

The actor said one of the best things about his line of work was that it can start conversations even after the show has ended and the credits have rolled.

He said that if Doctor Bahu had sparked discussions in viewers’ living rooms about “difficult subjects like grief, control, unhealthy relationships, forgiveness, or accountability,” then he and his team were able to create something truly meaningful.

Talking about his character Salman, Asad said he wasn’t written to be perfect. “He stumbled, made mistakes, carried pain, and at times became someone he never wanted to be.”

Still, the actor said, his character “owned those mistakes, apologised and tried to find his way back”. That’s what, he said, made playing the role so human.

Lastly, coming to the team that worked with him on the show, Asad thanked his “incredible cast, director, writers, producers, crew, and everyone who worked tirelessly behind the scenes” for trusting him with a role in their story.

The actor shared a picture with his on-screen partner Kubra Khan, who posted her own note of thanks on Tuesday. She said she had the most amazing experience making the show and thanked everyone involved with the show for making it happen.

Khan said she had no idea how nine months of her working on the drama flew by with all the fun they had on set, describing the team as less of a family and more like friends in high school or college who had each other’s backs no matter what.

Now imagine if someone just fed the book to AI and called it a day. That’s exactly what Urdu novelist Umera Ahmed’s team is worried about.

In an Instagram post on the writer’s official page, they thanked readers for the “tremendous love and support” they had shown her novels over the years and said they had noticed “a lot of AI-generated images, videos and reels trying to depict scenes, characters and dialogues from the novels”.

“We kindly ask all content creators and pages not to generate or share any AI visuals of Umera Ahmed’s work,” the post said.

The team said literature cultivated a very personal experience for those who enjoyed it and AI content deprived readers of that “personal connection”. They also said some of Ahmed’s works — like the novel Peer-e-Kamil — were so “deep, sensitive and spiritual” that no one should dilute their “beauty and sanctity” with AI.

The team said while they valued the creativity and energy that goes into running the many fan pages that post about the writer’s books, “it would be a great shame if people started diluting the beautiful words of Umera Ahmed”.

They asked content creators and pages to let the magic of Ahmed’s words touch them and others “the way it is meant to”.

AI has become a talking point in Pakistan recently after a number of incidents highlighted its negative impacts on the entertainment industry.

On Monday, Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal shared a music video produced by his ministry with extensive use of AI. It was criticised heavily for trying — and frankly, failing — to replace human artists.

Last month, TV personalities Tauseeq Haider and Farah Saadia were given quite the shock when they found out AI-generated pictures of their supposed wedding had gone viral. They both later clarified in a video that they were, in fact, “happily single”.

Actor Hira Tareen also cautioned against contracts being given to actors which could have their sign away their likeness for studios to make AI content with. She advised her colleagues to always read the fine print before signing anything.

Saffron Kingdom follows Masrat (Diana Aras), a half-widow — a term used for Kashmiri women whose husbands have been abducted by Indian forces. She flees the valley with her young son Rizwan (Alex Cheeks) in the wake of her husband’s enforced disappearance.

Masrat settles in the US, where both she and Rizwan must grapple with traumatic memories from their time living under occupation. The filmmaker said women played a central part in the movie, “the main character is a woman… you see another woman playing an important role… it’s an allegory I’ve used”.

“You don’t see a lot of men in the film because there aren’t a lot of men [left] in [India-Occupied] Kashmir,” he explained. “But you see women, and through them you understand what it takes to live in an occupation,” Sheikh had told Images.

The film premiered at the Wake Forest Film Festival in the United States and went on to play in six more countries, often to full houses with a strong showing from minority communities who related to its themes of migration and the trauma of persecution at home.

Saffron Kingdom joins Academy Award nominee The Voice of Hind Rajab, Bafta winning documentary Gaza: Doctors Under Attack and Pakistan’s 2025 Oscar submission The Glassworker in Watermelon+’s extensive library of works.

Cover photo: Arfat Sheikh/Daffodil Studios

In a reel posted on her Instagram account on Wednesday, Khan said the experience of filming the show left her with strong feelings not just for her co-stars, but for everyone on set.

She started the video by saying she didn’t add a song to her video of clips from behind the scenes, choosing not to add the drama’s OST because the audience had heard it too many times.

Working on the show reminded her of a line from Elton John’s ‘Your Song’, she said. “It’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside. But not one of those you can easily hide.

“Doctor Bahu, was something like that for me. It had so many emotions, so many feelings, not just attached to the script, but [to the] set. I always say that if your set has a good vibe, a good atmosphere and everyone is treating each other well, then half of your work is done.”

Khan said she had no idea how nine months of her working on the drama flew by with all the fun they had on set. “They say [actors] laugh during romantic scenes. We used to laugh during sad scenes as well.”

She said that while she would love to tell the world the cast and crew were like a family, they weren’t. It was more like time spent in high school or college where “whatever happens, we always stayed together… If there was a problem on set, whether it be rain, shine or a war, we’d support each other”.

Without getting too “mushy”, she said this wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the people involved in the project. Khan thanked the show’s director, Mehreen Jabbar, the writer, Sanam Mehdi Zaryab, and the director of photography, Tayyab Shah, in particular.

The actor also thanked “cast members, but more importantly, the crew members… for making this set so beautiful”.

Khan ended her note by saying she didn’t know if she’d ever get to work with a team like this again but would always look back on them fondly. She said the bar for all her future projects “has gone way too high” after Doctor Bahu.

Take, for example, the ARY Digital show Bas Tera Saath Ho. The show’s been running for 28 episodes so far and Hameed is playing the wife of the male lead’s uncle (Faran Tahir). A more recent project she’s doing is ARY’s Dar-e-Nijaat where she plays the mother of the female lead’s dad (also Tahir). Wait…what?

Yeah, we’re not kidding and we’re definitely not alone in thinking it’s a quite weird. In a reel posted on Monday, content creator K Khan asked the team behind Dar-e-Nijaat which angle they looked at Hameed from to think she was even remotely fit to play Tahir’s mum, especially when she’s playing his spouse in a show that airs on the same channel.

In the comment section, actor Zhalay Sarhadi said only women seem to age in Pakistani society, as men never really stop being boys.

“Hence our industry keeps on submitting to this cultural and generational brainwashing. All over the world, it’s changing, just not in this part of the planet.”

She said female actors in Pakistan needed to get “more appropriate roles written for us with better, more realistic casting”.

Sarhadi also joked that if this keeps up, she’ll be playing Humayun Saeed’s mother in a drama soon enough.

Actor Atiqa Odho also thought the whole situation was ridiculous. In a clip from her drama review show Kya Drama Hai, posted on YouTube on Tuesday, she said, “The cast is fantastic, except I don’t understand how Saba Hameed can play Faran Tahir’s mother.”

Odho said Hameed’s look in the show seemed forced because she does not look like a grandmother.

Not everyone thought it was strange though. TV host Juggun Kazim felt the two roles were “a testament to Saba Hameed’s extraordinary talent”.

“She has the rare ability to make you forget the actor and believe the character every single time. We are so lucky to have artists like her,” Kazim said.

Ageism is a contentious subject in Pakistan’s entertainment industry, with some several actors — including Odho — suggesting the rules of age apply very differently to male and female actors.

While male actors in their 40s continue to be cast in lead roles as young men — like Fahad Mustafa playing a 20-something-year-old in Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum — their on screen partners are often much younger girls. Women in their 40s and over, however, frequently get typecast as mothers or much older women.

Pakistani dramas have frequently explored narcissistic pathology. We call them ‘villains’ without recognising that they are psycho-education disguised as entertainment. Narcissism exists on a spectrum, and can perhaps be divided into two broad categories. Each destroys differently. Each requires a different survival strategy.

Overt narcissism: The shouters

Easy to spot, they are loud, entitled and unapologetic. They demand attention and special treatment and believe rules do not apply to them. And when challenged, they rage.

1. Mubashira Jaffer (Ayeza Khan) in Main — The textbook grandiose narcissist

Mubashira does not just want power. She claims it as a birthright. Her arrogance is her core identity, not a mask. She manipulates, schemes and destroys whoever threatens her position because she genuinely cannot conceive of a world in which she is not the main character.

Narcissism is more than vanity or selfishness. From domineering personalities to subtle manipulators, Pakistani dramas offer striking examples of how narcissistic behaviour unfolds

The clinical markers are unmistakable. She exhibits a sense of self-importance, exaggerates achievements, expects automatic compliance and displays a complete lack of empathy. When her plans fail, she doesn’t reflect — she retaliates. This is narcissistic rage — the violent response to any threat against the fragile ‘god self’ beneath the grandiosity.

Protecting yourself: Bou­n­daries must be impenetrable, stated clearly and enforced. They will test every limit, gaslight, guilt-trip and escalate. Do not negotiate or explain. They thrive on reaction. Calmness is your armour.

2. Farasat Ali (Naumaan Ijaz) in Sharpasand — The malignant manipulator

A darker sub-type, he doesn’t just lack empathy — he enjoys destruction. He destroys the character of women in his neighbourhood who do not submit to him — Shazmeen (Hira Mani), Hafsa (Zuni Sheikh) and Sanam (Hareem Farooq). His cruelty is calculated, not impulsive. He identifies vulnerability and exploits it with maliciousness.

This is narcissism with sadistic features. The pleasure is not just in winning. It is in watching you lose. Farasat seeks submission rather than admiration. He wants to see spirits break. This is the narcissist who will destroy reputations, relationships and people’s sanity — and then claim he was “just being honest.”

Protecting yourself: No contact is the only safe option as there is no reasoning with someone who derives pleasure from pain. Do not engage or confront. Document everything, protect your support system and exit. This is not a person who can be won over. This is a person who must be escaped.

Covert narcissism: The whisperers

Harder to spot, these narcissists play the victim, appear humble, sensitive and even self-deprecating. But beneath the vulnerability lies the same grandiosity — a deep belief that they are special, misunderstood and entitled to endless care. They drain you not with demands, but with need.

1. Nabeel (Mirza Gohar Rasheed) in Goonj — The covert harasser

He does not shout or threaten. He makes covert comments, withholds approval and isolates his target Zarnab (Komal Meer). When she explodes, there is no evidence. He has engineered the perfect crime: abuse that leaves no fingerprints.

In slow-motion gaslighting, the victim begins to doubt her own perceptions. Nabeel’s narcissism is not loud entitlement — it is quiet control. He does not need to dominate openly. He needs to make sure you know, in every interaction, that you are less than him.

Protecting yourself: Tr­u­st your gut. If you feel small, confused, or constantly apologising around someone, pay attention. They thrive on your self-doubt. Keep a journal of interactions. Share with a trusted person. Remember, you are being psychologically conditioned.

2. Raza Haseeb (Usman Mukhtar) in Pamaal — The love-bomber who crushes

Raza is perhaps the most insidious sub-type: the narcissist who loves you into submission. He begins with overwhelming attention, gifts, declarations of devotion. His wife Malika (Saba Qamar), a writer, believes she has found her soulmate. Then slowly, the mask slips.

He critiques her writing, isolates her from her friends, portrays her creativity as a threat to their marriage. He does not yell, he acts disappointed. He sighs when she succeeds. He withholds affection when she asserts herself. He is not a monster — he is a slow poison. His wife does not leave because he is cruel. She stays because he was once so kind — and she keeps hoping that man will return. He never does. That man was the bait. The trap was her hope.

Protecting yourself: Recognise the pattern. Love-bombing is seduction as strategy. Healthy love grows slowly. It does not demand self-abandonment. If someone asks you to shrink so they can feel big, leave… because they are incapable of seeing your worth.

Regardless of their type, narcissists share core features: a fragile self-esteem masked by grandiosity, a profound inability to empathise and a relentless need for a narcissistic supply of attention, admiration or submission.

But here is what they take: reality testing — you stop trusting your own perceptions and self-worth, you believe you are the problem — and hope. You exhaust yourself trying to be good enough.

Is change possible?

Research says yes, but it is rare and difficult. Unlike the dramatic redemption arcs we see on screen, real change requires years of committed therapy. This is the hardest step because narcissism is built on denial.

Therapeutic approaches work by helping the narcissist develop the capacity to understand their own mind and the minds of others — something stunted in childhood. With treatment, reductions in pathological narcissism are possible, but here’s the catch: change only happens when the narcissist wants to change, not because someone demanded it, but because the pain of staying the same has become unbearable. Most never reach that point. And those who do? It takes years, not episodes.

For everyone else, the only healing is the one you do for yourself.

Healing the partner

If you have encountered a narcissist, you know: the damage is not just what they did but what you stopped being. Recovery is not about “getting over it.” It is about rebuilding the self.

1. Identify: This is not about labelling someone but about validating your experience — the confusion, exhaustion and persistent feeling of being either ‘too much’ or ‘never enough.’

2. Grieve: You will grieve the person you thought they were, the relationship you believed you had, the years you lost. Let yourself feel the anger, sadness and relief as valid.

3. Rebuild: Narcissists dismantle your sense of self. Reconnect with your own needs, voice, desires. What do you want, feel and need today? The answers will feel foreign at first. Keep asking.

4. Set boundaries that stick: This means walking away when they are violated. Choose yourself over the fantasy of their change. They will test every boundary. Your job is not to convince them to respect it. But to respect it yourself.

Pakistani dramas have shown us narcissism in all its forms. We fume watching these characters. But the real work begins when we recognise them in our own lives. The question is not “who is the villain?” but “who in your life is making you smaller?”

You do not have to stay small or earn love by disappearing. Narcissists may or may not change. But you can. And that is the only freedom that matters.

Originally published in Dawn, ICON, August 2nd, 2026

The star appeared on the podcast Fahad’s Den, where host Fahad Abid asked him why he was opposed to “removing taxes on imports”. Quraishi explained he was against the relaxation of taxes on foreign TV shows specifically.

As part of this year’s federal budget, the government announced in June it would be withdrawing advance taxes — an amount of income tax that is paid much in advance, rather than a lump-sum payment at the year-end — on payments for foreign television plays and advertisements.

“Look, back in 2013 we had a major issue when Turkish dramas started playing here… Our industry suffered a lot because of it, we lost our slots [on television]. And each of those slots represents 80 to 100 livelihoods; losing 10 slots means 1,000 people out of a job.”

The actor said this doesn’t affect him much personally as he only does one or two dramas a year now, young actors who need exposure will be deprived of primetime slots if foreign shows are taking them up.

Quraishi contended that if his industry is going to be forced to compete with foreigners, other industries should be too. “If you’re saying it should be an equal playing field, why must that only apply to dramas? Let shampoos compete with shampoos, cigarettes with cigarettes, ice cream with ice cream too, everything.”

The actor said import restrictions and taxes were imposed to give local industries a boost and questioned why other industries should get one when entertainment doesn’t.

Quraishi said the situation was made all the more dangerous with artificial intelligence (AI) being part of the creative process. He said it was now possible for studios to dub foreign media without hiring dubbing artists, with AI replicating foreign actors’ voices in Urdu and even synchronising lip movements.

Nevertheless, he said, Pakistani dramas had their place in the world and competed with Netflix and Amazon Prime series in terms of popularity.

He said despite the prevalence of OTT platforms, people across the world continued to watch Pakistani dramas and even recognised our stars.

“Brother, look our competition right now is directly with Netflix series… Our free-to-air dramas are being compared with Netflix series. Even the most expensive of our shows cost about 200 million to make, meanwhile the Indians are throwing away 300 to 400 million per episode. That’s what we’re being compared to.”

Quraishi claimed a single episode of a good Pakistani drama was getting more views than popular Netflix series in their entirety.

The actor asked Abid to turn his attention to India, which has a massive industry compared to Pakistan, but does not let Pakistani content enter its market.

He said this was being done to give India’s own productions an edge, like the country had done for decades with consumer products like cars to boost its domestic industry.

Whether shaped by disability, gender, geography, political violence or ethnicity, the works of Attiya Shaukat, Rabia Farooqui, Maisam Hussain and Syed Hussain explore what it means to belong to a society that simultaneously excludes. The exhibition unfolds through deeply personal narratives, revealing the invisible fractures that quietly shape contemporary Pakistan.

Attiya has spent more than two decades navigating life in a wheelchair, after a fall just before presenting her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) thesis at the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore in 2004 left her paralysed from the waist down. Rather than allowing disability to define her, she has transformed it into a language of resilience, self-examination and artistic inquiry. Her artist’s statement speaks of continually searching for inner strength and embracing experimentation as an essential part of her practice.

Frida Kahlo appears as an important artistic companion in Let the Dice Roll I and II, where stitched thread intersects with portraits of the Mexican artist, whose own physical suffering has long become part of art history. In To Be or Not To Be I, Kahlo’s face is stripped of every feature except her unmistakable unibrow, while her exposed heart extends through branching veins towards Attiya’s own seated figure. The artist herself is portrayed with her face completely obscured by her hair, suggesting both concealment and protection.

Four artists confront disability, political violence, emotional vulnerability and prejudice in an exhibition that explores the hidden fractures running through Pakistan

The paired work, Queen of Bones I, shifts the viewpoint to the back of her head, allowing the damaged vertebrae that caused her paralysis to dominate the composition. Attiya transforms the injured spine into both subject and symbol, reclaiming ownership over a body that has become central to her artistic vocabulary.

Where Attiya’s work turns inward, Rabia examines the subtle dynamics of instinct, vulnerability and power. Trained in miniature painting at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS), the artist employs gouache on wasli to construct carefully orchestrated narratives that deliberately resist easy interpretation. Her anonymous figures refuse portraiture in the conventional sense. By withholding identity, Rabia redirects attention towards relationships, gestures and emotional undercurrents.

Motifs of fire, water, birds and eggs become metaphors for contemporary political and emotional landscapes. Fire represents crises that have become disturbingly familiar, while turbulent water suggests disasters whose violence barely registers in public consciousness. Particularly compelling is the diptych comprised of the artworks Don’t Stop Me and Protection, where cranes, women and cats coexist in an uneasy balance of care and threat. In Forced Release, a woman struggles to lift a crane from water while its eggs drift helplessly nearby. The imagery recalls both maternal instinct and forced displacement, allowing multiple readings without prescribing a single narrative.

For Maisam, memory is inseparable from conflict. Born in Parachinar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), his childhood unfolded amid bomb blasts, gunfire and recurring violence. His paintings recall growing up in an environment where explosions, shattered buildings and dust-filled air became ordinary experiences rather than extraordinary events.

A sculptor by training and currently teaching at the NCA, Maisam works with unconventional materials closely associated with warfare. Every work in this exhibition is executed using gunpowder and graphite, transforming the very substance of violence into a medium of artistic expression. Rather than depicting war literally, Maisam allows its physical residue to become the image itself, collapsing the distance between medium and message. His restrained monochromatic surfaces convey trauma more effectively than overt representation could.

Syed approaches marginalisation through the lens of identity. As a member of Pakistan’s Hazara community, whose distinct physical features have made them frequent targets of discrimination and violence, he explores visibility itself as both burden and necessity.

His Document Series consists of exquisitely rendered portraits of Hazara children, painted on wasli. Instead of naming the children, however, each portrait is identified only by a number. The decision is quietly devastating. These are individuals whose humanity is unmistakably conveyed through delicate observation and remarkable technical precision, yet bureaucratic numbering strips away personal identity. The contrast raises uncomfortable questions about documentation, surveillance, anonymity and the reduction of human lives into statistics.

Although each artist speaks from a different social location, ‘The Invisible Collapse’ succeeds because it avoids reducing marginalisation to a single narrative. Disability, emotional vulnerability, political violence and ethnic persecution remain distinct experiences, yet the exhibition reveals their shared foundation: the struggle to be recognised fully within society.

By transforming personal histories into visual testimony, the four artists ask us not simply to witness suffering but to question our own habits of looking away. In doing so, The Invisible Collapse becomes less an exhibition about victims than about resilience, memory and the urgent need to recover our capacity to see.

‘The Invisible Collapse’ was on display at Canvas Gallery in Karachi from July 14-23, 2026

Originally published in Dawn, EOS, August 2nd, 2026

Ghost School, which was written, directed and produced British-Pakistani filmmaker Seemab Gul, has already bagged the best director award for the film at the UK Asian Film Festival.

The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where it was nominated in the best film category. It was then screened at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah earlier this year, and earned critical praise and an honourable mention at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles for its “exceptional social realism and restrained storytelling”.

It also won a special award at the Asian African Latin American Film Festival.

The film highlights the issue of girls’ education, and follows the story of 10-year-old Rabia — played by Nazualiya Arsalan. The protagonist wants to pursue her studies, but her local school is closed down after a rumour that it is haunted — an excuse used by both the teacher as well as the village elder to shut the school.

Filmmaker says no reasoning given for withholding permission; minister insists censor board must have had ‘a valid reason’

The movie was filmed in Chashma Goth, and another village on the outskirts of Karachi.

Talking to Dawn, Ms Gul said she was shocked by the censor board’s decision. She maintained that her film did not contain anything controversial and only dealt with issues around education. She said that the federal censor board, as well as authorities in Punjab had no objections to the film, and only Sindh found it “not suitable”.

According to a letter sent by the secretary of the Sindh Board of Film Censors, “After careful examination and due deliberation, the board found the film not suitable for public exhibition”.

“I have no information what the board members found objectionable in the film,” she said, as no reasons were given in the board’s correspondence.

Dawn reached out to Sindh Board of Film Censors Chairman Khalid Bin Shaheen, but received no response.

When approached for comment, Sindh Culture Minister Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah said that the censor board was an autonomous body with a 15-member board that was authorised to issue film licences. He added that the board would certainly have had valid reasons for rejecting the licence application.

The decision comes as a blow to Ms Gul, who financed the film and is paying for its distribution out of her own pocket. If the film is not released in Karachi, the largest cinema market in the country, Ms Gul stands to take a massive financial hit. She told Dawn she had written to the censor board following their rejection, but received no repsonse.

“There are around 15,000 ghost schools in Sindh, it’s a critical issue,” she said, appealing to the censors to reconsider their decision.

Tahir Siddiqui in Karachi also contributed to this report

Originally published in Dawn, August 4th, 2026

A representative for the star told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday she would be “taking a step back from visibility” after she completes her Eternal Sunshine tour on September 1.

“She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily and then taking a much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances, which have led to endless, ongoing public scrutiny,” the representative said.

This isn’t just about her music, she has also decided not to appear in a theatre performance of Sunday in the Park with George in London next year, the production company confirmed.

“We know this cannot have been an easy decision and she makes it with our complete understanding and support. The production will open at the Barbican in summer 2027 as planned and casting will be announced in due course,” Empire Street Productions said.

Grande also stars in Focker-in-Law alongside Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller. It is unclear whether she will participate in the film’s promotions in the lead up to its release on November 25.

The singer released her eighth album, Petal, on Friday, with the title track’s music video attracting concern and commentary regarding her health. Fans — and even some celebrities — have said Grande looked incredibly thin and weak.

British model, author and body positivity activist Charlotte Howard was among those speaking out following the release of Grande’s music video.

“I think it’s vital we discuss imagery/videos/content like these and the damage they can — and will — have on women and girls. WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS NOT NORMAL,” Howard wrote in the caption of a post featuring stills from the music video.

She claimed Grande was evidently suffering from anorexia and that it was “absolutely appalling, from both a moral and capitalistic standpoint, to have released these videos and an album when this person needs psychiatric help and hospitalisation”.

Actor and comedian Jameela Jamil also spoke up, claiming the singer was “possibly dying right in front of us” and that it was “thoroughly irresponsible” of her team not to guide her away from presenting such an image to young fans.

Grande herself has told people not to comment on her appearance — or anyone else’s. Last year, she shared footage from a 2024 interview where she was asked about beauty standards.

“I think in today’s society there’s a comfortability that we shouldn’t have, at all, commenting on others’ looks, appearance… what they think is going on ‘behind the scenes’, or health, or how they present themselves. I think it’s dangerous, for both parties involved,” the singer said in the video.